Thursday, December 10, 2009

Sermon for 2 Advent at Emmanuel, Mercer Island

Well, we can tell it’s Advent
because here’s John the Baptist
proclaiming the quintessential Advent theme:
Prepare the way of the Lord!

The image that is given for preparing the way of the Lord
comes from the Prophet Isaiah
and it could read as thought it were a scene from the movie 2012,
or some such disaster movie
a cataclysm of the end of the world
or the end of life as we know it.

It is an image of clearing the way
described on a gigantic level – divine road excavation –
to drive home the point that
“…all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

Clear all away so that nothing shall obscure the view,
the seeing, the perception.
Prepare the way,
so that we …
so that all will know salvation.

Well, dare I ask the question? What do we mean by salvation?

This is very important because this is one of those key words
associated with the heart of our Christian faith,
right up there next to Jesus,
and somehow we Episcopalians
don’t directly talk about salvation very much.

Salvation is liberation, is being set free;
set free from what?
Whatever imprisons us, constricts and binds us,
whatever thwarts living out our full humanity,
that is, sin,
which is expressed blatantly
in the kinds of greed, violence and hard-heartedness
seen so easily all around us,
and sin
which is the littleness of our minds,
our self-centered focus of attention,
the blinders we wear so as not to look too much
at the human suffering all around us.

We need saving out of all of that.

So salvation is what we realize as the result of Jesus
working intervention in our lives,
and the state of being saved is the outcome of the revelation
of the awareness of the present Jesus with us.

So the John-the-Baptist Advent message is
prepare the way for seeing salvation.

Now, December is a very dark month,
not just for lack of daylight,
this being the time around the winter solstice
when nights are longest,
when seasonal affect disorder kicks in.
December is dark
because it is also a depressing time for many
in grief or want or loneliness,
for whom the holiday cheer
associated with rosy family scenes
and full of happy expectation,
is more like a cruel taunt,
something hopelessly out of reach,
a painful reminder of your isolation and loneliness,
of how bereft you are.

And this year, in particular, December is darker for more people
impacted by a whole year hit hard by the state of the economy.
It weighs heavy on my mind how so many more people that I know
are struggling financially because of job lay-offs or job cut-backs,
or are attempting to refinance the mortgage on the house,
and are rapidly depleting life savings
meant to see one through the end of life,
people living dangerously close to disaster.

It is a time of fear, a time of increased anxiety.

As we look around the pews this morning,
the one you are sitting near
could be facing some bleak aspects of December right now,
or it might be you yourself.

So we are faced with the very real and personal challenge
of living the Gospel in a crumbling culture,
the end of life as we have known it
without a clear view through the terrain at the salvation of God.

Too often, I fear, suffering people just quietly give up
and silently drift away from church; they just quit coming.
They didn't have a connection with or identity with
the Gospel hope such as Paul places before us.

So let’s turn to the epistle for today.

The Apostle Paul, corresponding with the Philippians,
was in prison at the time of writing.
He knew incredible difficulties.
And yet this letter he wrote to the Philippians
stands out particularly among all his epistles
because of its joy.
Why? Let’s take a look at it:

“I thank my God every time I remember you,
constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you,
because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.
I am confident of this, that the One who began a good work among you
will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
It is right for me to think this way about all of you,
because you hold me in your heart,
for all of you share in God's grace with me,
both in my imprisonment
and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.”

Verse 6 again:
“I am confident of this,
that the One who began a good work among you
will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.”

Now and again we need to hear a message of hope,
not the pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by kind of hope,
but the Gospel story of God's mercy and saving grace and loving kindness.

This kind of hope grapples with all the negative stuff,
and faces up to the suffering which is universal,
so that negativism and grief and disillusionment
do not end up siphoning off all that is positive, joyful and hopeful,
or obscuring from view the tremendous love of God for all of creation.

And notice this tremendous clue given here
as to why Paul spoke out from such a capacity of joy:
“because you hold me in your heart.” (verse 7)

This was more than others just having a warm feeling about Paul.
“because you hold me in your heart.”

Being held in the heart of the community:
what might this look like if we applied that to Emmanuel?

Here are some of the more humble ways
in which we are holding others in the heart of the community:
• taking poinsettias to shut-ins and those who have experienced recent loss
• eucharistic visitors and Emmanuel Friends regularly attending to those whose physical limitations keep them from being with us
• members of the altar guild taking part in the Toy ‘N Joy program of the Salvation Army
• the giving tree in the Narthex and all those participating in that project
• the teachers and mentors offering spiritual formation for our children
• and here’s an important one – those praying and offering intercession
o both at the Wednesday healing eucharist
o and in the Prayer of the Lamb meditation group
o and also people like Ruth Mary Close, who although she says it is now too much for her physically to attend here on Sunday mornings, nevertheless prays faithfully every day in intercession for each name on our prayer list.
She hold the whole parish in her heart!

Other ways in which people can be held in the heart of the community
is in our work of reconciliation, bringing peace to others,
standing by one another
asking how your neighbor is
with the intention of really wanting to know how they are.

These are small ways in which we can be
a community holding one another in our hearts.
And in these challenging times may that Spirit-given love and compassion
rapidly expand within us
to meet much greater needs that are sure to come.

With the Apostle Paul I trust that
“…the One who began a good work among you
will bring it to completion/to fulfillment/to fullness
by the day of Jesus Christ.”

In Advent we recall that the life of the whole church
is an in-between time of waiting, watching and preparing
between the first coming of Christ
and his appearing in fullness in our lives and at the end of time.

But it is also a time of great hope
in which we too can become like John the Baptist
and cry "Prepare the way of the Lord."

BECAUSE our hope is based in God's love for us,
a love so profound that God became one of us,
and was born in Bethlehem
just so that the times of grief and loss,
the times of hardship and difficulty,
could be overcome through and dissolve away in
the love of God
present here and now in the Spirit of the Resurrection Jesus.

And so I would join with Paul in saying:
“…this is my prayer (for you),
that your love may overflow more and more
with knowledge and full insight
to help you to determine what is best,
so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless,
having produced the harvest of righteousness
that comes through Jesus Christ
for the glory and praise of God.”